Nisan

← Adar       Nisan (נִיסָן)       Iyar →
Passover, the Festival of the Unleavened Bread, begins on the 15th of Nisan and commemorates the Israelites' liberation from Egyptian slavery.
Month Number:	1
Number of Days:	30
Season:	Spring
Gregorian Equivalent:	March–April

Nisan (or Nissan; Hebrew: נִיסָן‎, Standard Nisan Tiberian Nîsān) on the Assyrian calendar is the first month, and on the Hebrew calendar is the first month of the ecclesiastical year and the seventh month (eighth, in leap year) of the civil year. The name of the month is of Assyrian-Babylonian origin; in the Torah it is called the month of the Aviv. (e.g. Exodus 13:4 בְּחֹ֖דֶשׁ הָאָבִֽיב ḥōḏeš hā-’āḇîḇ) Assyrians today refer to the month as the "month of happiness." It is a spring month of 30 days. Nisan usually falls in March–April on the Gregorian calendar. In the Book of Esther in the Tanakh it is referred to as Nisan. Karaite Jews interpret it as referring to the month in which barley was ripe.

Holidays and observances

• 1 Nisan – Kha b-Nisan – the first day of the Assyrian New Year
• 10 Nisan – Yahrzeit of Miriam the prophetess, sister of Moses and Aaron^[1]
• 10 Nisan – Yom HaAliyah – Aliyah Day, Israeli national holiday
• 14 Nisan – Fast of the Firstborn – on 12 Nisan when the 14th falls on Sabbath
• 15–21 Nisan (22 Nisan outside of Israel) – Passover
• 23 Nisan – Mimouna – Maghrebi Jewish celebration of the end of the Passover prohibition on eating chametz, on 22 Nisan within Israel
• 26 Nisan – Traditional yahrzeit of Joshua^[2]
• 27 Nisan – Yom HaShoah – on 26 Nisan or 28 Nisan when the 27th falls on Friday or Sunday respectively, interfering with Shabbat

In Jewish history and tradition

• 1 Nisan (circa 3761 BCE) – Creation of the Universe according to Rabbi Joshua's opinion in the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 10b-11a)..
• 1 Nisan (circa 1638 BCE) – Death of Abraham according to the Talmud
• 1 Nisan (circa 1533 BCE) – Death of Isaac according to the Talmud
• 1 Nisan (circa 1506 BCE) – Death of Jacob according to the Talmud
• 1 Nisan (circa 1456 BCE) – First mitzvah is given to the Jewish people (Exodus 12:1–2)
• 1 Nisan (circa 1455 BCE) – Mishkan inaugurated; death of Nadav and Avihu
• 1 Nisan (1772 CE) – Birth of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
• 1 Nisan (1892 CE) – Death of Rabbi Elimelech Szapira of Grodzhisk
• 2 Nisan (1920 CE) – Death of Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn ("Rashab"), the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe. His last words are recorded as, "I'm going to heaven; I leave you the writings."
• 3 Nisan (1492 CE) – The Alhambra Decree orders the expulsion of Spanish Jews from Castile and Aragon (but not Navarre).
• 7 Nisan (circa 1416 BCE) – Joshua sends two spies to Jericho.
• 10 Nisan (circa 1417 BCE) – Death of Miriam, 39 years after the Exodus.
• 10 Nisan (circa 1416 BCE) – The Israelites cross the Jordan river into Canaan (Joshua 4)
• 11 Nisan (1270 CE) – Death of Nachmanides
• 11 Nisan (1902 CE) – Birth of 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
• 13 Nisan (circa 474 BCE) – Haman's decree to annihilate the Jews is passed.
• 13 Nisan (1575 CE) – Death of Rabbi Joseph Caro, author of the Shulchan Aruch.
• 13 Nisan (1866 CE) – Death of Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Chabad.
• 14 Nisan (1135 CE) – Birth of Maimonides
• 14 Nisan (1943 CE) – Warsaw Ghetto uprising begins. The uprising would last until Iyar 3, and is now commemorated in Israel on 27 Nisan.
• 15 Nisan (circa 1713 BCE) – Birth of Isaac
• 15 Nisan (circa 1456 BCE) – The Exodus from Egypt
• 15 Nisan (474 BCE) – Esther appears before Achashverosh unsummoned and invites him and Haman to a feast to be held the same day. During the feast she requests that the king and Haman attend a second feast the next day.
• 16 Nisan (circa 1273 BCE) – The Children of Israel stop eating Manna, six days after entering the Holy Land.
• 16 Nisan (circa 474 BCE) – Esther's second feast during which she accuses Haman regarding his plot to annihilate her nation. Achashverosh orders his servants to hang Haman.
• 17 Nisan (circa 24th century BCE) – Noah's Ark came to rest on mountains of Ararat^[3]
• 17 Nisan (circa 474 BCE) – Haman hanged after Queen Esther's second drinking party.
• 21 Nisan (circa 1456 BCE) – The sea splits, allowing Israel to escape the Egyptian army.
• 26 Nisan (circa 1386 BCE) – Death of Joshua
• 28 Nisan (circa 1415 BCE) – Conquest of Jericho by Joshua (Book of Joshua ch. 6).
• 29 Nisan (1620 CE) – Death of Rabbi Chaim Vital, a Kabbalist and a disciple of Rabbi Isaac Luria.
• 29 Nisan (1699 CE) – In Bamberg, Germany during a commercial crisis in 1699, the populace rose up against the Jews, and one Jew saved himself by throwing prunes from a gable-window down upon the mob. That event, the 29th of Nisan, called "Zwetschgen-Ta'anit" (Prune-Fast), was commemorated by a fast and a Purim festivity until the extermination of the Jewish community there.^[4]

In the New Testament

According to the writings in the New Testament, Jesus was crucified and risen on the third day for the sins of the world. The following happened according to the gospels:

• 9 Nisan – Jesus was anointed at Bethany by Mary (John 12:1)
• 10 Nisan – Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem. Scriptures says in John 12:15 that Jesus rode into Jerusalem 5 days before Passover began on a baby donkey so that prophecy about Him would be fulfilled:

“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” - (Zech. 9:9)

• 14 Nisan - Passover began at twilight on a Wednesday and ended on a Thursday at sunset.
• 15 Nisan – Upon sunset, Nisan 15 began and it's the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This day fell on what we know as Thursday and per scripture, Jesus celebrated the passover and broke bread with the disciples on this day. This meal is known as the Last Supper and is what established the habit of the early believers coming together to break bread on the first day of the week. This day was also customary for the passover lamb to be sacrificed. Jesus was crucified (Matthew 26:17) (Mark 14:12)(Mark 15:42)

-- 5The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. Leviticus 23 --

• 16 Nisan – After Jesus was crucified, evening fell and this day began at sunset. It was a Sabbath and the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread

• 17 Nisan- Early morning on the first day of the week after the Sabbath, Jesus arose from the grave and appeared to Mary and the apostles. Jesus rose from the dead (Mark 16:9) (John 20:1,9). This would also be the third day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Other uses

• In the Akkadian of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia nisānu, which derives from Sumerian nisag "First fruits".
• "Nisan" is also the name for the month of April in Arabic (Arabic: نيسان‎), a later Semitic language (see Arabic names of calendar months), in Kurdish and modern Turkish.
• In the story of Xenogears, "Nisan" is the name of a country, named after the Hebrew month.

See also

• Quartodecimanism

References

External links

• Resources on the Month of Nisan
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Nisan
• Strong's Concordance: Nisan
• This Month in Jewish History